It has been a while, since I posted to this list
as I have been quite busy,
gathering source code and documentation related to the Excel file format.
I have put it all up at http://chicago.sf.net
The goal of the Chicago project, is to get everyone
who is working on code
or documentation related to the Excel file format, to work with each
other.
My goals for the outcome of this work are:
1. An open source C library to read and write OLE files.
A good amount of code exists to deal with these files. It needs to
be combined
into one project. I propose the name libOLE for this project.
2. An open source C library to read and write Excel files.
A good amount of code exists to deal with these files. It needs to
be combined
into one project. I propose the name libXLS for this project.
3. Complete documentation of the OLE file format.
Documentation on this file format, is scattered all over the net. It
needs to be
put in one place. As I find documentation on the file format, I am
linking to
it at my web site. If you know of any documentation on the file format,
please
let me know.
4. Complete documentation of the Excel file format.
The most complete source of documentation on this format, is located
at
http://sc.openoffice.org in PDF and XML format. However several sections
are marked 2do. They need to be filled in.
5. Documentation of the Excel Encryption Algorithm
I have spent a good deal of time searching for information on this
topic.
All the information that I have found, can be found at:
http://chicago.sourceforge.net/devel/docs/excel/encrypt.html
Currently no open source spreadsheet, can open password protected
Excel workbooks. This is NOT ACCEPTABLE!
The wvWare project (http://wvware.sf.net), can open password protected
word documents if the correct password is supplied. I have began to
modify this code, to deal with Excel files. However, as no standard
library is available to deal with excel files, I am running into a
brick
wall while modifying the code.
Accomplishing the above objectives will take time
and effort.
However we can do it, because open-source works.
Another reason we can do this, is becaue some of the
most talented programmers in the world are reading this
e-mail. By investing some time now, we will save much
work later on.
We all need to work together, and get this done.
--
God Bless
Charles N Wyble
Home Page
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